Name: Blizzard in Alaska, December 15, 2008
Start: 2008-12-15T02:00
End: 2008-12-15T13:00
Location: Alaska

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS AFG wrote it up.

A 998 mb low tracked from the southern Chukchi Sea and just off the northwest coast of Alaska and produced blizzard conditions at the Red Dog mine at times during the night of the 14th into the morning hours of the 15th.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Fairbanks, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 14, 3:55 PM AKST, 10 hours 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 14, 3:55 PM AKST, 10 hours 5 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
355 PM AKST SUN DEC 14 2008

.SYNOPSIS...
THE LONG WAVE PATTERN CONSISTS OF A HIGH AMPLITUDE RIDGE OVER
ALASKA AND A DEEP TROUGH OVER THE SEA OF OKHOTSK. THIS PATTERN
APPEARS TO PERSIST THROUGH THE WEEK. THIS MEANS THE CURRENT
SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT AND ACTIVE STORM TRACK MOVING A SERIES OF
STORMS INTO THE WEST COAST OF ALASKA WILL PERSIST AS WELL.

A 1058 MB HIGH OVER THE SOUTHERN YUKON TERRITORY WITH A RIDGE INTO
THE INTERIOR WILL SLOWLY WEAKEN THROUGH 3PM MON. THIS WILL RESULT
IN VERY STRONG WINDS ALONG THE WEST AND ARCTIC COAST OF ALASKA
TONIGHT INTO MON NEAR THE INCOMING SURFACE LOW.

A 1005 MB LOW NEAR ANADYR WITH A WARM FRONT STRETCHING NORTHEAST
AND A COLD FRONT STRETCHING SOUTH WILL MOVE BY 3AM MON TO 150 NM
WEST OF POINT LAY AS A 1002 MB LOW WITH A WARM FRONT EXTENDING
NORTHEAST AND A COLD FRONT EXTENDING SOUTH TO KOTZEBUE THEN TO
BETHEL. BY 3PM MON THE LOW WILL BE 300 NM NORTH OF BARTER ISLAND
WITH THE COLD FRONT FROM KOMUKUK BEACH TO DENALI... AND BY 3AM TUE
THE LOW WILL MOVE NEAR BANKS ISLAND WITH THE FRONT MOVING SOUTH
OF THE ALASKA RANGE...AS HIGH PRESSURE REBUILDS OVER THE INTERIOR.

THIS STORM WILL CAUSE BLIZZARD CONDITIONS ALONG THE WEST COAST OF
ALASKA TONIGHT INTO MON...AND NEAR BLIZZARD TO BLIZZARD CONDITIONS
ALONG THE ARCTIC COAST MON AND MON NIGHT. THERE WILL BE 2-4 INCHES
OF SNOW WITH IN A NARROW BAND AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT...HEAVIEST
ALONG SOUTH SLOPES. SOUTH WINDS GUSTING TO 50 MPH AHEAD OF THE
FRONT WILL . WINDS WILL TURN WEST 30-40 MPH WEST OF THE FRONT AND
THEN DIMINISH WITHIN 12 HOURS OF THE FROPA. WINDS AND SNOW WILL BE LESS
OVER THE INTERIOR...THOUGH HIGHWAY SUMMITS COULD SEE STRONG WEST
WINDS AND BLOWING SNOW MON.

THE NEXT STORM WILL MOVE ALONG THE WEST COAST WED BRINGING STRONG
WINDS AND SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
MODELS INITIALIZE SHOW VERY SIMILAR SOLUTIONS. ONE DIFFERENCE IS
NAM MOVING THE LOW NEAR ANADYR NORTHEAST FASTER THAN THE GFS.
THE NAM APPEARS TO CREATE A MEAN CENTER BETWEEN THE TRIPLE POINT
AND THE MAIN SURFACE LOW, SO WE ARE USING THE GFS SOLUTION.

COASTAL HAZARD POTENTIAL DAYS 3 AND 4...NONE

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
BLIZZARD WATCH FOR AKZ204.

BLIZZARD WARNING FOR AKZ207-AKZ208-AKZ209-AKZ210-AKZ211-AKZ213.

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR AKZ201-AKZ202-AKZ203-AKZ205-AKZ206.

GALE WARNING FOR PKZ200-PKZ210-PKZ215-PKZ220-PKZ225-PKZ230-
PKZ240-PKZ245.

BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ235-PKZ240.
&&

JB DEC 08

Event by event

1 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.

Blizzard, Lower Kobuk & Noatak Valleys

When: December 15, 2:00 AM AKST to 1:00 PM AKST
Where: Lower Kobuk & Noatak Valleys forecast zone
Reported by: Public

A 998 mb low tracked from the southern Chukchi Sea and just off the northwest coast of Alaska and produced blizzard conditions at the Red Dog mine at times during the night of the 14th into the morning hours of the 15th. Although the limited observations from the airport at Red Dog indicated only intermittent blizzard conditions there were reports of very low visibilities and road closures due to blowing snow at the Red Dog Mine.

What these are

Blizzard: Sustained winds or frequent gusts of 35 mph or more with falling or blowing snow that cuts visibility below a quarter mile for three hours or longer.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Alaska in 2008 Every state in 2008 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, December 2008

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 138506.